The Hypocrisy

So, as most everyone should know by now, Iran has been in a bit of turmoil lately. Recently a bill has been introduced to the senate to cut off contracts to tech companies who do business with Iran. One of the main reasons stated is because the government is using deep packet inspection to spy on the citizens and be able to control what they look at (ie censorship). Funny how we haven't complained about the practices of other countries online practices. Or heck, even our own. Internet censorship and spying is only OK if we say it is? I get it. Goes right along with spending our way out of debt.

Cap and Trade

I am soooooooooooooooooooooo livid about the Cap and Trade bill I can barely talk about it. I won't say much, but I will say this. The bill was 1,201 pages and representatives were given less than 24 hours from the time it was finalized until the time the final vote went to the house. Any representative who voted yes for this bill should be thrown out of office in 2010. The only responsible thing any rep should have done was vote no based on that fact that they need weeks, possibly months, to consider every piece of pork thrown into this bill, done research on its effects and consulted constituents before just going ahead and passing what the Wall Street Journal said could possibly be the largest tax increase in US history. This is so wrong. My rep will hear from me on her yes vote. Whether you believe the global warming theories or not is completely irrelevant in this matter. There was no time for legislators to make an informed decision. This kind of crap should not be tolerated.

Dads

Happy Fathers' Day to all you fathers and potential fathers out there! I have been blessed with a father and a step father. Some people may not call that a blessing, but I do. They are two very different men, but they both mean a lot to me, have done a lot for me, I've learned a lot from them and I love them. I am glad to have them in my life. I have gained an even greater appreciation for them since watching them being grandpas to Adie. I get to see a whole new dimension to them that I really never saw before. I think I've seen a softer side to them which I cherish. I also have wonderful grandpas myself, who I love also. I feel so lucky to have such awesome men in my life.

Speaking of awesome men, here's my favorite one of them all.



He is so good to me and is such a wonderful father. I find him extremely attractive (I have since the night I met him and my friend, Shannon, can attest to that). However, I find him even more attractive as I watch him be Adie's father. I love watching the two of them interact and seeing how Adie is his little princess. I never got to meet Brett's dad, but from everything I've heard about him, it sounds like he was a wonderful father too, and I think Brett really strives to follow the example of his dad. I am grateful to Brett's dad for setting that example for Brett. Adie is lucky to have Brett for his dad, and I am lucky to be married to a man who will forgive me for completely forgetting today was Fathers's Day. I woke up this morning after a poor night's sleep, and asked him to take care of Adie so I could get a few more minutes of rest. He took care of Adie all morning, made himself breakfast, all the things I should have done. I didn't even realize my mistake until we were sitting in Stake Conference and the speaker mentioned it was Fathers' Day. Oops! Hopefully, I can make a good dinner and do anything else to make up for my terrible forgetfulness. Good thing that Brett is not only extremely attractive, but very laid back and forgiving. Happy Fathers' Day, Brett. I love you and I know Adie does too!

The law of unintended consequences

I know Sabrina already posted a pretty zealous political post today, but I just read a piece of news that really made me shake my head. The following analysis of the situation is by no means guaranteed to come true, but I consider it an incredibly likely scenario.

The government has announced that it will be giving vouchers for 3500 to 4500 dollars to people who are buying a new car that gets at least X number of miles per gallon better gas mileage than their previous one. The explanation given is that they want to get rid of the number of old cars on the road. Having not thoroughly examined the bill, but finding no language to the contrary, I'm going to assume (until proven otherwise) that there is no limit on how long one must own a car before they can use it to get this credit to buy a new car.

Consequently, people who have no car to trade in, but do want to purchase a new vehicle will go out and find an old junker which gets terrible gas mileage for as cheap as they possibly can (ie <$500). They will then use this to (at the average tax payer's expense) get a net $4000 savings on a new car.

This will have 2 direct effects. First, you'll be paying for people's vehicle's depreciation for the first year. Second, the average price for junker cars will go up. It's a simple case of supply and demand. Poor people's ability to drive vehicles will be decreased. The poor people (this can include college students or anyone else who can't afford to spend a lot on transportation) will have a harder time finding an inexpensive (read <$1000) car. And honestly, it could cause a similar effect among vehicles closer to $2000 in price, because $2500 free still isn't bad.

Well, at least now I'll be able to console myself that I'm not only going to be paying for people's mortgages and health care, now my tax dollars will be subsidizing people's personal cars as well.

Don't Blow a Gasket

I haven't been reading as much political rhetoric lately, well up until 2 days ago. I started delving back into it. I am not sure I should have. There is a lot of garbage going on that makes my blood boil. On a good note, the rep for our congressional district did just sign up as a co-sponsor for HR 1207 which is a bill to demand the Federal Reserve be audited. They are getting a growing number of reps to support this bill and I have hope it will actually pass. It would make things rather...interesting.

That being said, on the other side of this issue, the Obama administration is pushing Congress to give the Federal Reserve sweeping new oversight powers and asking that it be passed through quickly. According to an AP article, it will be the biggest regulatory change since the 1930's. Why are we in such a hurry, AGAIN, to pass sweeping legislation? Slow down, Nellie! Let's actually think these things through. They already passed 1000 page bail-out bills giving the Congress something like 24 hours to read the entire thing. How ridiculous!

In any case, I am against giving the Federal Reserve more power, but any of you that have been reading my opinions for a while will already know this. They are only a quasi-governmental agency, meaning some of their board of directors are chosen by the President and the chairman testifies before Congress on occasion, but even our former Fed Chair, Alan Greenspan, said as recently as this year that the Fed is above any public scrutiny. Excuse me? You print our money and then charge us interest on that money. You set the national interest rates. You basically determine monetary policy for the US and you are above our scrutiny? I vehemently oppose this. This is why more power should not be given to them and this why they need to be audited right now! If they are only being benevolent and doing what's best for our country then those at the Fed should happily open their books up for an audit. Let's prove to all us skeptical Americans who don't trust the Fed that there is nothing for us to be worried about. The fact that the Fed is often seeking more power and saying they are above scrutiny should be a key indicator that something is and has been afoot at the Federal Reserve since its inception in 1913. In fact, I challenge all you reading here to do a little research into how the Federal Reserve was formed, taking special note of meetings at Jekyll Island and when the bill was passed. You should also see what President Wilson, who signed the Federal Reserve Act into law, said about that bill on his death bed.

I was really mad about it again this morning. I really, really hate the Federal Reserve, probably more than almost anything, and I am not a hateful person. There are very few things I hate besides pickles, mustard, olives and the University of Kentucky's basketball team. Brett even asked me this morning if I hated the Federal Reserve more than Kentucky and I said yes. He then told me not to blow a gasket because he knows how much I hate really hate the UK basketball team, and to say I hate the Federal Reserve more is pretty serious stuff. Ok, rant off.

NBA championships

So, as I'm sure anyone who is still reading this blog post after seeing the title knows, the LA Lakers won the NBA Championship this year. I consider that unfortunate, I really do.

I honestly don't know why I dislike Kobe Bryant so much, but I told Sabrina this, I would have loved to see him go his entire career and not win a championship. There are several reasons I've thought of as to why I feel this way. 1 - He's challenging my basketball hero - Michael Jordan's dominance as the greatest player ever. Childhood heroes can never be one-upped. Sorry, it doesn't happen. 2 - He gets away with murder on the floor. Oh, and he whines when he gets a foul called on him. I mean, he's perfect. How could he ever commit a foul? He's almost as perfect as Pau Gasol. I didn't want the Lakers to win while Kobe was on the team. Once I watched Pau Gasol, I really, REALLY didn't want the Lakers to win. 3 - I've never believed Kobe was a real team player. I admit, he's gotten much better over the years at being part of a team. I still just don't feel he makes the players around him better.

It was sad when I found out that the Magic would be playing the Lakers, because I figured that the Lakers would win. Surprise. They did. And now as every sports writer/commentator will now tell you, Kobe's legacy is secured.

Let the good times roll

Several months ago, we picked up four square picture frames at IKEA. This evening Sabrina and I were trying to figure out what we should actually put in the picture frames. What's interesting is how hard it is to find a picture of Sabrina, Adie, and me together. Apparently I'm the one that's always taking the picture, so only 5% or so of pictures have me in them. Of that 5%, Sabrina and I are together in less than a quarter of them. It was difficult. Consequently we ended up looking through lots and lots of pictures trying to find something of us together. Along the way we found some fun ones. Here are some funny ones of Sabrina.

This is in Hawaii at the Dole pineapple plantation. You seriously can't have enough hands when dessert is on the line.

This is in Universal Studios in Florida right before Sabrina's brother's wedding. We had just went down the water slide and were all wet.
I hope you all notice the rolled up pant legs and the sweet shoes she's wearing. This is in the Uinta mountains at some property Sabrina's grandparents own. We stopped at a nearby lake and walked around the shore. Well, Sabrina slipped and got her shoes all muddy and feet all wet. This is the aftermath.

Let's just say she hadn't been cross country skiing for a while before this one.